CANNES – A little over a year since her breakout as a comedy action star in the 2024 art house hit “Thelma,” June Squibb’s late career renaissance continues. Her latest leading role? That of “Eleanor the Great” in Scarlett Johansson‘s directorial debut, a world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. And despite Squibb’s indomitable efforts, it’s sadly a less satisfying experience.
We’re introduced to Eleanor (Squibb) and her lifelong friend and roommate Bessie (Rita Zohr) as the pair spend their golden years getting into mischief in sunny Florida (perhaps the worst Southern California for Florida we can remember). Eleanor has an almost sassy, blunt, no-f’s-to-give attitude. And she’s willing to throw out a tiny white lie or two if it helps a friend, usually Bessie. When the latter passes away, a heartbroken Eleanor heads back to New York City to live with her now divorced daughter Lisa (Jessica Hecht) and college-age grandson Max (Will Price).
Lisa is hoping to get her mother into an independent senior living building, but Eleanor isn’t interested. She ensconces herself in Lisa’s home, becoming a thorn in her side with unfiltered criticisms, barely giving her daughter any peace. When Lisa signs Eleanor up for a weekly singing group at the local Jewish Community Center, an unexpected twist occurs. Suddenly, Eleanor finds herself in the middle of a weekly holocaust survivors group, with the members believing, because she’s joined the circle, she is also a survivor. The Iowa native is nothing of the sort, having converted to Judaism in 1953 when she married her husband. But with Nina (Erin Kellyman), a young NYU journalism student sitting in on the meeting, Eleanor is pressured into sharing “her” experience. Like a deer in headlights and basking in the attention, she does the next best thing: she shares Bessie’s as her own.
You know the minute she takes that step, things will not end well. And that’s not a spoiler warning either. The film telegraphs it immediately.
Surprisingly, or perhaps refreshingly, Nina and Eleanor form a genuine friendship. As they spend more time together, Eleanor reveals more of Bessie’s story, and Nina, captivated, crafts it into a written piece. When Nina’s father, Roger (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a well-known television journalist, decides to cover “Eleanor’s” harrowing escape from a concentration camp, our 94-year-old heroine looks like she’s about to be in deep, deep trouble.
An original screenplay by newcomer Tory Kamen, “Eleanor The Great” simply has too many storylines it’s trying to juggle. Not only is Eleanor trying to keep her lie alive, but she’s also intent on hiding her new friend from her daughter and grandson (why is unclear). Meanwhile, Kamen has an entire melodrama unfold between Roger and Nina, a father and daughter whose relationship has suffered since the death of Nina’s mother. At the center of it all, however, is Eleanor’s heartache over the death of Bessie. She’s still not over it and, honestly, may never be. 70-year friendships sort of stick with you for life.
To complicate matters, these plotlines are, unfortunately, terribly episodic. The film is trying to do too much, especially when there is more than enough compelling drama in Eleanor’s personal distress. Giving any of this nuance in just over 90 minutes would be challenging for any director. For Johansson, it’s even more so. The movie doesn’t opt for a slick, commercial sheen, but it needed even a hint of visual candor to elevate the proceedings (“SNL” short films look more captivating than “Eleanor”). Perhaps Johansson wanted to be as safe as possible when shooting her first film. Maybe the independent shooting schedule limited their options, but considering the lineage of filmmakers Johansson has worked with over her 25-year career, we dared to expect something more?
The film’s saving grace, of course, is Squibb. When the movie needs her the most, she delivers. She brings the laughs and – almost – gives the film the emotional ending it’s aiming for. It’s not just admirable, it’s genuinely remarkable that she comes as close as she does to making it the tearjerker Kamen and Johansson were hoping for. Let’s hope she has more chances to enthrall us on the big screen again. We’re here for it. [C]
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Editor-at-Large Gregory Ellwood is one of the entertainment industry's most respected journalists and critics. Based in Los Angeles, he's the only current awards expert who previously worked on Oscar campaigns at a major movie studio. Over the years, he has written for the LA Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vox, among others. He also co-founded the entertainment news site HitFix, which spawned a legion of influential Emmy and WGA Award-winning alumni.
